ATGRA 88

Contrary to my expectations, there were quite a few alumni from my university who applied to our clinic.

It was a bit absurd. Leaving aside the fact that none of them were very close to me, weren’t they the same ones who had whispered that I would quit school soon because I was an Omega?

People like that, on top of loving to gossip about others, are also insincere, so I can’t just hire them easily. Their resumes were all dazzling, but I couldn’t believe everything written on them.

There are so many people who come in pretending their inflated experience is real experience. At first, I was unsure, but after receiving all sorts of resumes due to the constant stream of spies, I came to a realization.

Resumes are something you really can’t trust.

When I asked for a graduation certificate, the degree itself was fine, but the lies about part-time or intern experiences and the tasks they could perform were rampant.

I filtered out all the resumes where the “skills” section was packed to the brim in an attempt to look highly qualified. Diligence? Don’t make me laugh! This guy was the one who ghosted his major’s group project!

As a result, out of dozens of resumes, only two remained. Among them, the applicant who impressed me the most was a face I knew.

Hong Seonghyun. This was also a name I hadn’t seen in a long time.

When I entered university, he was already in his final year, so we didn’t know each other for long, but Hong Seonghyun was a model student whom even the professors praised endlessly.

I had taken the same lecture as him just once, and he was the type of person who would even audit a class he had already taken, saying he needed to study more.

I heard he went to work at a Korean medicine hospital after graduation, and looking at his work experience, it seemed he was still working at that hospital.

No matter how well our clinic paid in salary and incentives, it was rare for someone to quit a hospital if they had successfully completed their internship. I couldn’t ignore the possibility that he was a spy sent from the Korean medicine hospital.

However, there was no talent as good as Hong Seonghyun. The other applicants’ overall specs were plausible, but they didn’t have actual hospital work experience.

“Nam Jungyoon probably doesn’t know Hong Seonghyun…”

Since he was a senior many years my senior, there wasn’t much I could find out about Hong Seonghyun. Hong Seonghyun had graduated before Nam Jungyoon even enrolled.

At this point, there was no other way but to meet him for an interview. It was difficult to do a reference check like I did when hiring a medical assistant. What if he’s a spy sent from the Korean medicine hospital?

After much deliberation, I contacted Hong Seonghyun. I prayed and prayed that he wasn’t a spy.

Hong Seonghyun arrived at the clinic about 20 minutes earlier than the scheduled meeting time.

It was as if this person didn’t age either; he hadn’t changed much from the last time I saw him. It was like that even though it had been almost eight years.

“Oh, Yeonghwa, you haven’t changed.”

“You’re the same too, sunbae.”

As I lightly shook hands with Hong Seonghyun, Nam Jungyoon looked at me and Hong Seonghyun alternately with a suspicious face.

“You have seniors you know too, sunbae?”

“Of course. You might not know, but this sunbae was famous for studying hard.”

“Well, not as much as Yeonghwa, though.”

“…”

“Anyway, the interview is just a formality, so please sit comfortably. You already know me, and this is our associate director, Nam Jungyoon.”

“Hello.”

Nam Jungyoon bowed his head, looking a little stiff. At times like this, it was obvious that Nam Jungyoon was still new to the professional world. Why would he look at someone who came for an interview so stiffly?

I poked Nam Jungyoon hard in the side. Only then did Nam Jungyoon seem to realize this was an interview and straightened his posture.

“…Um, looking at your resume, it seems you’re working at Dongseo Korean Medicine Hospital. Why are you trying to switch from a Korean medicine hospital to a private clinic?”

“I’m interested in the Gongjindan that turns people into Alphas. I’m a Korean medicine doctor myself, you know, so it’s only natural that I’d want to work at a place that has turned the world of Korean medicine upside down.”

“…You’re interested in the Gongjindan?”

Is he really a spy?

Nam Jungyoon and I turned to look at each other at the same time. Isn’t this guy a spy too? As we were contemplating this with one mind, Hong Seonghyun chuckled softly.

“I know what you’re worried about. I’m not after the formula. It’s just that I personally… have a reason to change my workplace.”

It seemed that his interest in Gongjindan was an answer for the interview, and the real reason for changing jobs was that he needed to move workplaces.

Nam Jungyoon and I looked at Hong Seonghyun at the same time again.

“If you don’t mind, could we know what that reason is?”

Nam Jungyoon, as if reading my mind, asked the question I was curious about.

As expected, it was a good idea to bring Nam Jungyoon into the interview. Since he was a familiar face, it was a bit awkward for me to ask this and that.

“Ah, that’s…”

Hong Seonghyun scratched his cheek with an awkward expression. He followed up by saying it was a very personal matter, so he didn’t know how much to explain.

I slowly looked Hong Seonghyun over.

Hong Seonghyun is seven years older than me. Considering he’s a Beta and served in the military before graduating from college, he has worked at the university hospital for about five to seven years.

In fact, with that much experience, it’s more beneficial to just stay at the hospital. Unless you commit some huge medical malpractice, you’ll likely secure your own position. On top of that, Korean medicine hospitals, unlike Western medicine hospitals, don’t have medical accidents that often. Since there are no surgeries, incidents are rare…

“I got divorced recently.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

Not so rare, huh?

“But, my ex-wife is the head nurse at the hospital I currently work at…”

“Wow, that’s crazy…”

“We had already started living separately, but we kept running into each other at work, and I realized I couldn’t keep doing this.”

With the news of Hong Seonghyun’s divorce, the interview instantly devolved into something like a university alumni gathering.

Not just me, but Nam Jungyoon too, couldn’t hide his expression that said, ‘Wow, this is really crazy. It’s such a personal reason that I have no idea if I should keep listening to this or not.’

“The people I work with all came to our wedding, and now they look uncomfortable because we got divorced.”

“Uh… you don’t have to say any more.”

“Haha, was that too personal? I’m sorry.”

Although it was the personal story of a university senior I hadn’t seen in a long time, that was a sufficient reason for changing jobs.

His divorced spouse works at his current job. And no matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like an amicable divorce.

I dragged Nam Jungyoon out of the director’s office, which we were using as the interview room. After hearing the reason, the possibility of Hong Seonghyun being a spy after the Gongjindan formula was extremely low.

Putting aside the personal aspects and looking at it purely professionally, there’s no better candidate for associate director than Hong Seonghyun. Nam Jungyoon is an Alpha, I’m an Omega, so we need to bring in a Beta associate director to maintain the yin-yang balance of our clinic.

“Jungyoon, what do you think?”

“I think office romance is a crazy thing to do.”

“No, not that. I’m talking about Hong Seonghyun coming to be our associate director.”

“I’m fine with it. I don’t know the reason for his divorce, but he doesn’t seem to have any personality flaws. Just in case, I discreetly asked a classmate who works at that Korean medicine hospital what kind of person he is…”

“You did a reference check? You admirable brat.”

“I did it in advance because I knew you couldn’t, since you have no friends.”

“…I take back the admirable part. So what did they say? Is he good at his job?”

“They said he’s a one-man army. They were grinding their teeth, telling me not to take him because the hospital won’t run if he leaves. Said they’d die.”

“Hey, let’s definitely take him. I’m sorry that someone else will suffer, but we have to survive first.”

The answer wasn’t just that he was reasonably good, but that the hospital wouldn’t run if he left? My heart pounded. This person has to become our clinic’s slave, no, associate director!

“Should we hire him?”

“Uh… I’d love that.”

“Go get the medical assistant. First, let the medical assistant scan him, and if she gives the okay, let’s hire him. And then we’ll be vicious and tell him to start next week.”

“We sounded like a totally exploitative clinic just now.”

“But we’ll give him incentives instead. A hefty amount. Enough to be a financial cure.”

“Now we sound like a humane clinic.”

Nam Jungyoon quickly brought Ms. Kim Miyoung. The specialist in spy detection, Ms. Kim Miyoung, quickly scanned Hong Seonghyun while bringing him a cup of adlay tea.

No matter how I looked at it, it was an amazing skill. Does being exposed to herbal ingredients for a long time really make you proficient in such miscellaneous skills? I’m so glad that I’ve become mega best friends across generations with Ms. Kim Miyoung.

“Director, you have to hire that man. Anyway, it’s certain he’s not a spy. The aura of a divorced bachelor is stronger than the aura of a spy.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“Totally. I’m getting a feeling right now.”

“What kind of feeling?”

“A feeling that, like a man whose family has fallen apart, he’ll only work hard.”

“That’s crazy. Hired!”

For this reason, Hong Seonghyun became the second associate director of our clinic.

I can’t trust my own judgment, but I can trust Ms. Kim Miyoung’s. If nothing else, Ms. Kim Miyoung is someone who evaluates Jung Pureum very positively. That means she has a great eye for people.

While I was urging Hong Seonghyun to sign the employment contract and resign from the Korean medicine hospital, Nam Jungyoon sat next to me and looked back and forth between Hong Seonghyun and me.

“Starting next week seems a bit difficult. I have to do a handover as well. But, two weeks from now should be possible.”

“Okay, then. Please start in two weeks.”

“This is the first time I’ve gotten a job offer confirmed right at the interview. Did I, by any chance, get in through school connections? Corrupt admission?”

“No? That’s not it…”

I couldn’t bring myself to say he was hired based on Ms. Kim Miyoung’s feeling.

They say you exude the aura of a clinic slave, no, an excellent associate director! How could I say something like that? What if he runs away?

“…Because I can trust you, sunbae?”

I chose my words as carefully as possible. My excellent human resource must not run away! I need Hong Seonghyun to go to Japan to see Jung Pureum.

The words “I can trust you” were also 100 percent sincere. To be precise, it was more about trusting Ms. Kim Miyoung than trusting Hong Seonghyun.

“Haha, that’s a bit embarrassing…”

However, Hong Seonghyun’s ears turned red, regardless of how he interpreted my words. And Nam Jungyoon, who had been watching the situation from the side the whole time, said this as soon as Hong Seonghyun left.

“Sunbae, you really live up to your nickname.”

“What? Why are you picking a fight again all of a sudden?”

“You were just like the bird that drinks tears.”

When I asked what he meant by that, Nam Jungyoon shuddered.

What’s with him, is he like a first child throwing a tantrum because a second one was brought in… This is all to reduce his own workload, yet Nam Jungyoon remained consistently ungrateful.